James and Sharp take on Ukatak

Rob / 20.01.2002

Pete James and Steve Sharp are about to start the ‘coolest expedition race on earth’.

The pair are with Team Ford Ranger, one of 14 teams on the start line of Ukatak, the 5 day winter expedition race through the Charlevoix region of Quebec. (It’s on the North bank of the St. Lawrence river.)

They are taking on one of the toughest events in the calendar – the only non-stop, multi-day race in extreme Nordic conditions. Charlevoix has had 9 metres of snowfall in one winter and at the inaugural race last year temperatures got down to –35C. Neither of the British racers gets a lot of practice cross-country skiing or snow-shoeing either.

Pete spent some time living in Northern USA and has had experience in winter conditions at various races around the world, he also completed the winter Salomon X-Adventure in arctic Sweden last year. Steve currently lives on the Rock of Gibraltar and is a qualified mountaineering instructor in the army. His nickname is ‘Ski’, so let’s hope its well earned! Doug Cousineau and Torielle Perreur-Lloyd complete a very international team. Doug is from the USA, but works in China, and Torielle was born in Montreal, but now lives in Luxembourg.

This year the race starts in Quebec city before heading out into the wilds of Charlevoix, which has 2 forest parks and is a world biosphere reserve. (It’s also one of the largest meteorite craters on earth!) The course is likely to include ice canoeing across the St. Lawrence, which was such a spectacular success last year, plus X-country skiing, snow-shoeing, climbing and mountain biking. There might even be some horse riding but over 4 days and 400 km it may not get above freezing point.

Everyone is likely to be chasing defending champions ‘Lapin Kulta’ (though last time they were called Team Finland). Other possible winners are the Swedes in the Tenson Adventure Team and some strong French entries. (There are 3 French teams and only one from USA, which is no surprise to the French speaking locals.) However, our hopes are with Team Ford Ranger.

We’ll let you know how they get on, or you can follow the day-to-day race coverage on www.ukatak.com.